Mailbag: 'Quiet zone' should extend to motorcycles

February 24, 2011

I applaud the efforts of the City council to rein in excessive noise pollution of any kind ["Council approves quiet zone," Coastline Pilot, Feb. 18]. Laguna Beach is one of my favorite places to spend leisure time, but of late the level of traffic noise on Coast Highway and in Laguna Canyon on weekends is noticeably worse.

What are the biggest noise polluters of all? Motorcycles with illegal modified exhaust systems. Can anyone explain to me why, if I drove a car without an effective muffler I would instantly get a ticket, but somehow motorcycle riders are exempt? There are laws on the books that limit motorcycle noise levels, just like any other motor vehicle. It's time the laws were enforced. I am a motorcyclist myself, by the way, but I have no respect for fellow riders who are inconsiderate noise polluters.

I really related to Noel Lashley's letter last week, "All these rules are ruining the city" [Coastline Pilot, Feb. 18]. He could have easily expanded it to the whole nanny-state government, especially California. His mentioning of government needlessly closing off much of the California coast to fishing was a perfect example of the nanny-state government at work; in this case driven by environmental extremists.

Lashley pretty much covered it when he wrote, "Of course I don't want anarchy in this town, but I don't want to live in a Communist régime either." When you want a government powerful enough to do everything for you, remember it is also powerful enough to do everything to you, and it will. The federal government's job is to protect the country and its citizens. On a lesser scale, protecting the citizens from external forces is the job of all local governments. It is not government's prime job to control and regulate us, nor protect us from ourselves

Dave Connell

Laguna Beach

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I know of a way to reduce the national debt. It is for the government to sell some of the real estate now used by the military. One [way] is to sell to private real estate investors [one of] the most pristine real estate locations in Southern California. This is the land between San Onofre and Oceanside, used by the Marine Corps at Camp Pendleton.